Updates from August, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 16:01 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

    A second arrest has been made in the murder of Claudia Iacono in May this year. Daniel Renaud adds that he has information that she was killed in error: he suggests the intended target was actually Iacono’s husband, Anthony Gallo.

    CBC has the story with a short video discussing the latest mob killings and what we can assume they may mean (and at least Steve Rukavina admits that a lot isn’t known because the main characters don’t give interviews, and the cops don’t like to show their hand either).

     

    • Kate 15:25 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

      The man rescued last week from a car on Cherrier, a feat captured on video, had been medievally tortured, according to police. The victim, whose identity can’t be revealed, is quoted as saying he fully expected to die at the hands of his captors.

       

      • walkerp 17:13 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

        What is the backstory here? Is the 19 year old male just a total psycho and he roped the woman in and they kidnapped this guy at random? Or did they know him and is there a revenge angle here? Lots more to come in this story.

      • Kate 18:05 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

        Indeed. Motivations haven’t even been addressed.

    • Kate 11:45 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

      Work is resuming on the Louis‑Hippolyte‑La Fontaine tunnel after a scare two weeks ago about dangerous mold. But workers will have to wear N95 masks.

       

      • Forgetful 12:59 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

        In other major MTQ news, a new agency! might take charge of transit projects in Quebec. Hopefully something more “Deutsche Bahn” or “SNCF”, and less “Via Rail”. I could see the government transferring CDPQi from CDPQ to this new agency.

      • Kate 10:08 on 2023-08-15 Permalink

        La Presse’s Paul Journet had a column about this new agency on Monday. He talks about how the CAQ likes to convert things to a management-style agency – education, health, and now transit – but that it isn’t a magic bullet and the government has to take responsibility no matter how it’s structured.

    • Kate 11:06 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

      Excellent Ethan Cox piece on Ricochet about the Montreal shuffle: the Airbnb hustle taking homes off the market.

       

      • Kate 09:23 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

        Restaurants are in a jam: they need to hike their prices because of rising costs, but they know it risks having people stop going.

        CTV talks to one restaurant that’s growing some of its own food in its basement.

         

        • Ian 10:29 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          No kidding. A smoked meat special at Lester’s is just under 29 bucks. When Moishe’s was still on St Larry after 9 you could get a main, appetizer, and coffee for 29 bucks.

          Smoked meat at steak prices.

          …but go down to the Provigo and their prices have gone up just as much.

        • Maxim Baru 12:48 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          Notably: not a single labour union operating in resto industry was consulted for the first article. neither a union official nor even a resto worker that’s unionized. Just to verify with a second opinion: is the main contention true? what other factors may be contributing?

          as it stands, it’s basically a piece of PR by the resto employers association; probably commissioned as part of some pressure campaign going on in the back end for more subsidies.

          more broadly, while i know some resto owners who are very ordinary people facing these real challenges, overall it’s hard to sympathize as resto owners are frequently seen to be raising big families in the burbs at a house with a pool and driving a tesla into montreal.

        • Kate 15:17 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          Excellent points, Maxim Baru. Thank you.

        • m 22:00 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          @Maxim Baru There are only two (short) sentences about employee salaries in the whole article. Why talk to a union rep, the blame for increased prices is mostly attributed to food costs. Otherwise, the whole article is a long (accurate) complaint about how it’s too expensive to go out to the restaurant. How there hasn’t been a dozen articles about it earlier is what’s incredible. Maxim Baru, how you (and Kate) think this is a PR piece is beyond me. How disconnected and one-note can you be?

          (The whole ‘burbs and Teslas’ is laughably anecdotal.)

          Restaurants closing, that’s the next wave of articles. And that’s when you talk to union reps.

      • Kate 09:11 on 2023-08-14 Permalink | Reply  

        Most of our media have something Monday on where we’re at with Covid. In short, most of us have some immunity, by vaccination and/or by catching it and recovering, but Covid is not going anywhere, and remains a risk for older people and those with immune deficiencies.

        A new spike in infection is expected soon. A regular reader sent me a link to this informative thread on X.

        Meantime, Montreal tourism is back to pre-pandemic levels and Quebecers are back to travelling abroad as much as ever.

         

        • MarcG 13:38 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          I don’t have the time or energy to pull up all the references but:

          1) Most have *some* immunity, but it’s a question of how much and to what (infection, hospitalization/death, or Long Covid). Immunity to infection is poor from both vaccination and infection (~30%). Immunity to hospitalization/death is better but not the sure-shot we behave like it is (60-80%). Immunity to Long Covid from vaccination is non-existent and infection increases your chances.

          2) It is not just a risk for the elderly and immunocompromised. 30% of hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic are under 60. This talking point is dangerous in that it gives a false sense of security to the young and healthy, but also becaue it implies that those people’s lives are less valuable and/or they don’t deserve to participate in normal society (e.g. “If you’re at risk then just stay home, it’s unfair to ask the majority to make sacrifices”). If you look at the Canadian government’s definition of who is at risk of severe disease or outcomes, it includes everyone over 60 (27.4% of the population) and people with chronic medical conditions (44% of adults over 20 years old) – so this is not the minority we think of when they say “it’s only the oldies and already medically fucked who are in danger and who cares about them anyhow?”.

        • MarcG 14:50 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          When I said “Immunity to Long Covid from vaccination is non-existent” I just meant that the numbers in that study are pretty consistent with others (10-20% of infections lead to Long Covid) not that everyone who gets infected gets Long Covid (although that may be shown to be true sometime in the future).

        • Ian 15:02 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          In support of this I’d like to note that one of my friends came down with her first bout of covid this week and was hospitalized as she has uncomplicated asthma – and it got complicated fast. Just regular old asthma, nothing super debilitating. You can be very marginally at risk and still have very serious consequences.

        • Kevin 16:03 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          Spotted outside a church in Prescott Ontario: The real virus is communism; Covid-19 is how it spreads.

        • Kate 16:13 on 2023-08-14 Permalink

          We really are going to have to get used to saying Prime Minister Poilievre, aren’t we.

          But wait, if that’s the case, Kevin, wouldn’t a Covid vaccination protect people from communism?

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